Inset left: Jonathan Morris (Hamilton County Sheriff”s Office). Inset right: Ryan Johnson (Cincinnati Police Department). Background: The Taco Bell parking lot where Morris allegedly shot Johnson to death in Cincinnati on Aug. 29, 2025 (Google Maps).
An Ohio man is behind bars after being fired from his job earlier this summer and then exacting vengeance on his former manager, according to law enforcement in the Buckeye State.
Jonathan Morris, 21, stands accused of one count of murder, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident occurred in the parking lot of a Taco Bell on Gest Road in the Queensgate neighborhood of Cincinnati on Aug. 29, police say.
Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.
On the night in question, just after midnight, Morris allegedly gunned down Ryan Johnson, 32, Hamilton County prosecutors allege. The defendant had been fired from his position there the day before.
“They are devastated by this,” prosecutor David Hickenlooper told Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Tyrone Yates on Thursday, according to a courtroom report by Cincinnati-based Fox affiliate WXIX. “It was senseless. We believe he was only trying to help.”
The prosecutor’s comments were in reference to the victim seemingly attempting to help the defendant, the TV station reported.
Instead, however, Morris killed Johnson outside the popular fast food establishment where both men worked, according to law enforcement. Police officers who arrived to reports of shots fired that night said they discovered Johnson suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was eventually pronounced dead at the scene.
At the time of the incident, Johnson was not in his Taco Bell uniform, police told WXIX. Rather, he was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. No shell casings were found at the scene of the crime, police said. Investigators did, however, obtain a description of the suspect and the presumed motive for the killing from a witness or witnesses at the crime scene, authorities say.
During Thursday’s hearing, the court quickly assessed the evidence against the defendant and set bond at $500,000, records show.
The state, for its part, requested $2 million bond, WXIX reported.
The victim’s family had other ideas.
“He killed my grandson,” Johnson’s grandmother said at one point during the hearing – reportedly standing up to address the judge directly. “He doesn’t need to be out. He took a life.”
Morris is represented by a public defender in the case. On Thursday, the defense attorney said his client had only one prior contact with the criminal justice system — an allegation of which he was acquitted. Hamilton County court records show Morris was accused of aggravated robbery in September 2023 but acquitted in March 2024.
The defense attorney also said neither his client nor any member of his family has the money to pay for bond — and that Morris is the primary caregiver for his 1-year-old son. Morris and his son live with the defendant’s father, the defense attorney went on.
A police officer, however, said law enforcement searched the defendant’s father’s residence and never found him there – noting that it took investigators weeks to finally apprehend Morris.
Ultimately, the court split the difference.
Morris will have to pay the full $500,000 to make bond; typically defendants pay 10 percent of the amount to satisfy bond conditions. In the event that amount is paid, the defendant will be subject to 24/7 electronic monitoring and house arrest, the judge ruled.
